Overview

The Dance Preservation Fund was established in 1994 to further the recording of dance, supporting projects dealing with Labanotation or other notation systems, movement analysis, technology development or dance preservation. Grants can provide support for materials, conferences or workshop expenses, or equipment and personnel to advance these projects.

Who may apply:

Current Ohio State University Department of Dance majors and graduate students, alumni of the department, current faculty and emeriti. Visiting artists, researchers, and notators who are in residence in the Department of Dance are also eligible for funding. Approximately $15,000 is available annually for this purpose.

Award criteria:

• Quality of the project and focus on dance preservation and documentation
• Qualifications of the applicant and related collaborators or personnel
• Innovation and initiative in applicant’s research and profession
• Demonstrated need and realistic budget

Application procedures:

The 2024 Dance Preservation Fund Application is due by May 3, 2024, via online application portal. Go to https://u.osu.edu/osudancedpf/.  This form does not save your progress.  We recommend that you type your answers in a personal document and copy/paste in order to submit.  You will receive an email confirmation within 48 hours of submission.

Sections to complete are:

• Title of the Project
• Persuasive project description including objectives and procedures    
  Please include if any resource permissions are involved (attach documentation form from the source granting permission) and/or if your project involves notation, the notator must submit a relevant sample of their work.
• Project outcomes or significance to the field
• Timeline for the project with brief explanation
• Itemized Budget 
  The budget can include, but is not limited, to: 
  • Collaborators and personnel (for current OSU employees, add an estimated 30% for benefits; if faculty release time is required, provide the approval from the department chair)
  • Essential materials and supplies
  • Copies and mailing materials
  • Travel necessary for project and research outside of Franklin County, Ohio
  • Minor equipment essential to research (less than $500)
  • Payments to services essential to successful conduct of research (foreign language transcription, data analysis or technical assistance) 

Grant timeline:

Applications are due May 3, 2024. Application review will be made by May 31, 2024, by the Dance Preservation Fund committee, appointed by Charles Anderson, Chair of the Department of Dance. Notification of results will be made as soon as possible after that, no later than June 15, 2024.

The project and award timeline aligns with Ohio State's fiscal year, July 1 to June 30. Proposals must be for projects or research happening in the future and cannot be reimbursements for past expenses incurred. Awards are administered by the Department of Dance and require Ohio State's accounting policies and processes for payments, as it is a university fund.

Past Projects

A few of many projects the Fund has supported:

• Supported the editing, production, and distribution of Lynn Dally’s DVD:  “JAZZ TAP ORIGINALS: Anthology 1979-2012”
• The maintenance of LabanWriter since it was developed
• Supported the filming of Arthur Saint-Leon’s Pas de Deux (1835) as reconstructed from Saint-Leon’s notation
• Supported presentation of Motif Notation in Dance Education at Dance & the Child and World Dance Alliance Conference in Taipei 2012
• Checking and correction of the Labanotation dance score of Victoria Uris’ Sea Dreams
• Provided license and royalty payments for use of Nijinski’s Afternoon of a Faun score
• Provided funds for Mara Penrose to attend the International Council of Kinetography Laban Conference in Budapest and present her research paper Scoring Change in August 2011
• Helped Loren Bucek with development of intensive professional development workshops for K-16 educators, dance teaching artists and those affiliated with higher education communities across Ohio, and the curriculum project Accelerated Motion: Towards a New Dance Literacy
• Given archival help for the Bebe Miller collection at the Theatre Research Institute
• Assisted the documentary Thinking on Their Feet: Women of the Tap Renaissance
• Helped support a graduate associate position at the Lawrence and Lee Theater Research Institute to help with cataloging the materials in the Dance Notation Bureau collection
• Supported the completion of the Labanotation score of Rosalind Pierson’s Lachrymae by Kimberly Jensen Wilchek
• Given support for notator training
• Supported Vera Maletic’s Dance Dynamics update and accompanying DVD production
• Given assistance in the archiving of Diane McIntyre’s materials
• Checking & correction of Crossing the Black Water section of Legacy choreographed by Hwai Min Lin, notated by Ray Cook
• Supported the Dance Notation Bureau Collection Oral History Archives
• Provided support for the EYE ON DANCE 200th Anniversary Special Preservation Project

Questions: dance@osu.edu or (614) 292-7977